Lady Hornets Volleyball Gained Momentum with a Home Winning Streak

With the MEAC Volleyball Tournament coming up on November 17th, the Delaware State Lady Hornets volleyball team wanted to build momentum by trying to win the final four home games of the season.

Guess what, mission accomplished because defeated four MEAC teams in a span of a week.

Lets start with last weekend with November 5 and November 7 when the lady hornets sweep both Morgan State and Coppin State 3-0. Both of those games were season sweep.

Then on Veterans Day, Lady Hornets Hornet had a great battle with Howard University in 3-1 victory thanks to Jessica Croucher's 12 kills.

Last but not least in their home finale on November 12, the Lady Hornets had to win the final two series to beat North Carolina Central 3-2.

Playing in her final game as a DSU Hornet, senior Sarah Wheatcort had her very first career triple double with 12 kills, 17 assists, and 14 digs.

During the lady hornets four game winning streak, DSU has owned opponents in attack percentage 27% to .08%.

Now that the regular season is over the lady hornets will begin the MEAC Tournament as the number two seed when they take on Norfolk State Friday in the quarterfinals. Good luck to the Lady Hornets volleyball team in the MEAC Tournament.

Anthony Glaud Having a Field Day on Senior Day

During the Hornets 29-7 victory over North Carolina Central, Hornets quarterback Anthony Glaud knew he must perform well in his final home game in a DSU uniform because he makes any more turnovers, that will mean that's his Hornet career will end on a very sour note.

So what did Anthony Glaud do to impress Hornets fans, by completing 80% of his passes without committing a turnover.

Glaud was nearly perfect all game long ever since the start of the first possession. Glaud was spreading the wealth to six different Hornet receivers that allowed him to throw for 224 yards and almost half of those yards belong to new favorite target Justin Wilson, who finished with eight catches for 124 yards.

Glaud also made some key running plays that lead that help the Hornets extend their scoring drives.

-During the Hornets opening drive of the game Anthony Glaud used a quarterback sneak from the Eagle one  yard line to scored the hornets first touchdown of the game.

-On the Hornets third possession of the game, Glaud ran for 15 yards and two 1st downs that lead to the Hornets 2nd touchdown of the game.

-On the Hornets 1st possession on the 3rd quarter, Glaud found a big whole to gain 15 yards to the North Carolina 27 yard line that set up the Hornets third touchdown.

Anthony was all over the field for DSU and the Eagles defense had no answer throughout the entire game. Now lets see if Anthony can finished the season on a very strong note and try to win the final two road games of the season versus Norfolk State this Saturday and Howard November 20.

A Disappointing Performance by the Hornets Defense

What is wrong with the Hornets defense? Are they afraid to tackle? Do they keep getting burned by the offensive line? Do they stay on the field too long ? Did they allowed too many big plays for big yards?

All the questions were answered in the Hornets 38-21 home defeat at the hands of South Carolina State.

The Hornets defense were off to a great start in the 1st quarter by forcing South Carolina State to fumble the football twice deep into Hornets territory.

However, from the 2nd quarter through the 4th quarter, the Hornets defense went to sleep in a hurry creating a bunch of gaps for Bulldog quarterback Malcolm Long to throw some great passes to nine different receivers, run for the first downs, also allowed his teammate running back Chris Merrill to run 171 yards on 26 carries and one touchdown.

The Hornets defense has allowed a total of 464 offensive including 253 yards on the ground for a total of 24 points.

I bet the Hornets defensive coordinator Ray Petty is going to have sleepless nights once again just like that Bethune-Cookman game and the Morgan State game last month. What can the hornets defense do to help the Hornets offense? Something tell me they have a lot of work to do throughout the rest of this season and the off-season before the 2011 season returns. Besides next year the Hornets defense is only going to lose three seniors on defense so I won't bash on the Hornets defense too much but they need to find in fill the holes they created in order to create turnovers and less yards.

Plenty of Tricks and Treats for Hornet Fall Sports

There were plenty of tricks and treats for Delaware State Hornets sports on Halloween Weekend. Now the question is where do start with the tricks (bad news) or the treats (good news).

Lets start with the treats for DSU Sports:

Lady Hornets Volleyball

Friday October 29

It was a great historic home win for the lady hornets volleyball team as they snap UMES's 36 MEAC match winning streak by winning 3-2 in five sets (18-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13). For University of Maryland Eastern Shore it was their 1st loss since November 9, 2006 against Morgan State.

The Lady hornets had a two big advantages during their win by outhitting the Hawks with a .254 hitting percentage (61 kills/25 errors/142 attacks) to the Hawks .201 hitting percentage (58 kills/29 errors/144 attacks). Also DSU had 11 blocks to the Hawks six in order to secured the victory. This should gain even more momentum throughout the rest of the season for lady hornets volleyball.

Men's and Lady Hornets Cross Country
Saturday October 30
Plenty of treats to go around for the men's and lady hornets cross country team as they both finished in the top 10 at the 2010 MEAC Cross Country Championships

The lady hornets finished 4th in the standings thanks to a great performance by All-MEAC honoree Dashera Richardson who finished 7th out of the 78 runners with a impressive time of 18:41.70 in the 5K course.

Meanwhile the Hornet men finished 6th in the standings thanks to All-MEAC honoree Andre McDonald who finished 14th in the 8K course with a career best of 26:28.30.
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There were also some tricks as the Hornets come up empty handed in their defeats.

Hornets Football

October 30

The Hornets football team wanted to make a statement at home versus the two time MEAC Champion South Carolina State. Instead that statement was wipe off cleanly from the start in a 38-21 defeat.

DSU started strong in the 1st quarter when the Hornets scored but since then, the Bulldogs outscored the Hornets 38-14 from the 2nd quarter to the 4th quarter. The only bright spot for Delaware State was Justin Wilson who had a career field day nine catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.

The Hornets defense allowed the Bulldogs to racked up 464 yards on offense. That's a chunk full load of yards for a defense who is last in the MEAC in the giving up yards per game.

Lady Hornets Volleyball
October 31
I guess Howard University wanted more candy than the lady hornets volleyball team because DSU lost 3-2 on the road. The Hornets lost the fifth and deciding game thanks to six attack errors.

Erica Tajchman had made 1,000th kill in a losing effort for the lady hornets.

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Maybe its was all the ghosts and goblins they tried to haunt DSU Sports during Halloween week, but no matter what they will always call the ghostbusters. In other words Hornets will look to wrap fall sports on a strong positive note in November. 

Turnovers Doomed the Hornets at Morgan State's Homecoming

This is one game I will soon try to forget because the Delaware State Hornets football team has made one the worst offensive performances in the Al Lavan era since 2004.

During the Hornets 34-24 defeat at the hands of Morgan State, the Hornets committed not one, not two, not three, but six turnovers.

Here's the breakdown of how the Hornets committed the most unexcused turnovers ever made:

-In the 1st quarter, Delaware State committed three turnovers on the 1st three possessions. On the Hornets opening drive, quarterback Anthony Glaud threw his first interception to Morgan State's Reshaude Miller and return it 31 yards to the Hornet 37 yard line that allowed Morgan State to worked a short field to scored a touchdown.

-On the second possession, Jaashown Jones (22 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown) fumbled the football just as the Hornets were getting inside Morgan State territory.

-On the Hornets third possession, Glaud threw his 2nd interception to Morgan State's Rich Ndubueze.

-In the 2nd quarter, the Hornets offensive line broke down big time when Anthony Glaud was sacked by Morgan State's Chris Eugene that allowed to ball to come out and allowed the Bears defense to recovered the fumble.

-With just 20 seconds before halftime the Hornets was trying to get at least field goal range instead Anthony Glaud threw his third interception to Reshaude Miller and returned 61 yards to the DSU 25 just as time expired

-After Morgan State scored the go-ahead-game winning touchdown, Delaware started their final drive at their own 12 yard line with very little time left and instead of trying to playing run and lateral, Anthony Glaud fumbles the ball again after getting sacked by Justin Young followed by the scoop and scored 2 yard fumble return by Sheldon Marques to make the scored accurate.

I'm pretty sure the Hornets quit on themselves and Al Lavan is running out of options on what this football team can do to make good plays and finished ball games without making mistake after mistake after mistake. Well the Hornets better fix them quit because this Saturday DSU will take on the two time MEAC Champion South Carolina State at home. Trust me there will no treats, no tricks for Delaware State instead they need a miracle and a little luck in order to start a four game winning streak.

Jones' Running Game Helped the Hornets Get their 1st Win

Jaashown Jones running game proved to be factor in the Hornets 31-26 victory over North Carolina A&T back on Saturday.

Jones made this Hornets's Homecoming a memorable one by carrying the ball 30 times for 144 yards and a touchdown that seal the Aggies fate.

Jones also made key runs on key drives that help the Hornets scored touchdowns especially in the red zone.

In the 1st quarter Jones ran for 35 yards for the 1st Hornets scored. Then in the 2nd quarter, he ran 19 hard earn yards to help Nick Elko throw a touchdown to cut the Aggie lead to 14-12 before halftime.

Late in the 3rd quarter Jones kept the adrenaline going, Jones ran 20 yards to help Anthony Glaud throw a touchdown pass to Justin Wilson to give the Hornets a 18-14 lead.

Finally in the 4th quarter, Jones ran another 30 yards to help Glaud throw another touchdown this time to Lerrone Moore to increase the Hornets lead to double digits 25-14.

Let's face it, Jones and the entire Hornets football team are tired of losing ever since very 1st game against Southern University in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge back last month on Labor Day Weekend.


Back on October 9th in the Hornets 47-24 lost to Bethune-Cookman Jones really wanted to get back on the field because he had over 90 yards rushing in the 1st half and didn't return for the rest of the 2nd half.

Jones said it best in the October 14 article of The News Journal that if you don't win at practice then you will lose the game.

If DSU can stick to the running game with Jaashown Jones against Morgan State, South Carolina State, North Carolina Central, Norfolk State, and Howard then the Hornets offense can provide a well place touchdown drives to at least win three more ball games.

Hornets Football in Familiar Territory

As the Hornets football get ready to play Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Al Lavan has been in this predicament before when starting the season 0-4.

During his very 1st coaching tenure of 2004, the Hornets lost the first four games of the season before getting their 1st win against Hampton at home. After that first win, the Delaware State finished with a 4-6 overall record, 4-3 in the conference.

On the October 6th article of The News Journal, Coach Lavan told reporters that one thing he like about his football team is that they are showing confidence and they are playing hard with confidence.

Its very good to stay positive and besides the Hornets have done well on offense by making plays and marching down the field but they couldn't able to score points in the red zone.

Back on October 1, the Hornets made 89 plays but only ending up scoring 14 points versus Hampton.

Its also the little things including special teams, where the offensive line couldn't protect the punter for punts and the place kicker for field goals. Also the defense can not afford to stay on the field for a very long time because they are undersized and they will give up big plays with big yards.

Saturday the Hornets will have their hands full against the highest scoring team in the MEAC Conference the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. Will the Hornets continue to stay positive and get their first win of the season? That answer will come Saturday night in Daytona Beach.